Category: Performances

Wednesdays in Wiedemann continues with Professor Lynne Davis at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 6 in Wiedemann Hall on the Marcussen organ.

Admission to the half hour recital is available at no additional charge, and the event will be livestreamed on the School of Music Facebook page.

The program includes transcriptions to two famous songs by Gabriel Fauré as well as variations on the old Flemish tune, “Est-ce Mars?” (“Is it the God of War, Mars?”) by Sweelinck.

Join the School of Performing Arts for performances of “Peter and the Starcatcher” from Feb. 29 to March 3 in WIlner Auditorium. The performances start at 7:30 p.m. from Feb. 29 to March 2 and 2 p.m. on March 3.

Tickets cost $20 for adults; $18 for seniors, military and faculty/staff; and $12 for children and students. Wichita State students can also receive one student ticket at no additional charge with their Shocker ID thanks to the Student Government Association.

Written by Rick Elice, the show is about a young orphan and their mates that are sent from Victorian England to a distant island ruled by the tyrant King Zarboff. Unbeknownst to them, the captain’s cabin holds an enigmatic trunk containing otherworldly and valuable cargo. Along their voyage, they meet the bright and astute Molly, who is training to become a Starcatcher. They quickly discover that the trunk’s precious contents are starstuff, a powerful celestial substance that must never fall into the wrong hands. Their adventure takes a dangerous turn when the ship is taken over by pirates, led by the fearsome Black Stache, a villain set on claiming the trunk and its riches for themselves. The group must work together to protect the starstuff from falling into the wrong hands as they navigate through treacherous waters and face perilous obstacles.

Purchase tickets from the online box office or call 316-978-3233.

Six student soloists will perform in concert with the WSU Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 13 in Miller Concert Hall. The annual Concerto-Aria Concert will be led by Mark Laycock, director of orchestras.

The featured performers, selected by competitive audition, are among the finest upper division and graduate majors in the School of Music. The program will also include the world premiere of Labyrinth, a short work for chamber orchestra by retiring faculty composer Dean Roush.

Soloists Josephine Barstad, soprano; Aria Beert, violin; Luis Gomez, clarinet; Karla Lugo, cello; Grace Stringfellow, oboe; and Anne Yap I-Shyuen, piano, will perform works by Richard Strauss, Henryk Wieniawski, Edward Elgar, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Wolfgang Mozart and Oscar Navarro.

• Minnesota soprano Barstad is lauded for her “glorious and expressive” voice. Her authentic artistry has most recently been displayed in the title role of “Suor Angelica,” where she was described as “having a voice made for verismo.” Upcoming in the 2024 season she will perform La Contessa in “Le nozze di Figaro” and hold her Graduate Recital at Wichita State.
• Aria Beert, originally from Rockford, Illinois, has won numerous awards for her violin playing, including the Mendelssohn Performing Arts Scholarship competition, the Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra, the American Federation of Musicians Scholarship Award, Rockford Area Music Industry Scholarship Award and Budding Artist Musician from the Kiwanis Club of Rockford.
• Luis Enrique Gomez is a graduate student at WSU completing his master’s in clarinet performance in the clarinet studio of Professor Rachelle Goter. He can currently be seen directing the WSU Shocker Sound Machine at various sporting events, as a student conductor of the WSU Symphonic Band under the direction of Dr. Timothy Shade, and playing clarinet and bass clarinet in the WSU Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra and Clarinet Quartet, as well as the Wichita Wind Symphony.
• Karla Lugo was born in Pachuca Hidalgo, Mexico, where she learned to play the cello at age 12 in the humanitarian project Sinfónica Azteca. She has won awards for second place in the National Cello Competition of La Superior de Musica y Danza de Monterrey and the scholarship Creadores Escénicos 2022 of the Support System for Cultural Creation and Projects in Mexico.
• Grace Stringfellow is an orchestral, chamber and solo performer based in Wichita. She joined the Boise Philharmonic as second oboe in September 2021 and the Wichita Symphony as second oboe in September 2022 and has been principal oboe of the Dad Village Symphony Orchestra (a virtual symphony) since March of 2020. In 2020, she won the Undergraduate Concerto Competition at the University of Colorado Boulder.
• Anne Yap I-Shyuen, a native of Malaysia, is a first-year graduate student pursuing a Master of Music in piano performance at WSU under the tutelage of Dr. Warren Kim. She earned her Bachelor of Music in piano performance and pedagogy in May 2023, having been guided by Dr. Julie Bees. Throughout this period, Anne garnered notable accolades, including the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award 2023 and the Thurlow Lieurance Outstanding 2023 Senior and 2022 Junior Awards.

Tickets are available at the Fine Arts Box Office or by calling 316-978-3233.

The Wichita State Opera Theater, under the direction of Professor Alan Held, will present its annual “Scenes and Songs” performance at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 9 in Wiedemann Hall.

The performance is a yearly campus favorite and will feature the opera students in various scenes from Weill’s “Street Scene,” Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” and J. Strauss’s “Die Fledermaus.” Tickets are available by calling the WSU Fine Arts Box Office at 316-978-3233 or by visiting the Ticket Office website.

The first performance in 2024 of Wednesdays in Wiedemann with Professor Lynne Davis will take place at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7 in Wiedemann Hall on the great Marcussen organ.

There is admission at no additional charge to the half-hour program, which includes works by Nicolas de Grigny, Samuel Barber and Louis Vierne. Come and experience WSU’s iconic hall and organ.

Dr. Cristina Castaldi, associate professor of voice, soprano, will sing for the Faculty Artist Series at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28 in Wiedemann Hall. She will sing songs and arias by composer Giuseppe Verdi in recital.

Wichita State students can request their student ticket at no additional charge in advance by going to the Fine Arts Box Office located in Duerksen Fine Arts Center during operating hours. Students must show a Shocker ID to receive their ticket.

Mark Foley, professor of double bass, appears in concert with the WSU Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30 in Miller Concert Hall. Foley will perform his own concerto composed for the occasion. The concert, led by Mark Laycock, will also include music by Vaughan Williams.

The Little Wichita Concerto, for double bass and chamber orchestra, draws upon a wide variety of styles and influences, including jazz, rock and roll, and classical music. Foley also serves as principal bass of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and performs each summer as a member of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra in Boulder.

A mainstay of the Wichita jazz scene, Foley is a first-call bassist for club dates and sessions with local and national players. He is the founder and musical director of the Knob Festival of New Music, an annual series of concerts presenting performances of wildly diverse new works by local, national and international artists.

The concert also includes Vaughan Williams’s “A London Symphony.” Premiered in 1914, the symphony features rich melodic invention, powerful climaxes and extraordinary structural cohesion across its four movements. It was the piece the composer conducted most frequently in his appearances with orchestras around the world.

Tickets are available through the Fine Arts Box Office at 316-978-3233.

The School of Music and Choral Activities are proud to present the 60th annual Candlelight Concerts Dec. 1-3 in Wiedemann Hall.

Come get immersed in the beautiful sounds of the season as they continue to celebrate the long-lasting tradition of the WSU Candlelight Concerts.

Wednesdays in Wiedemann with Lynne Davis presents its annual Christmas Organ Concert on the Marcussen organ at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6 in Wiedemann Hall. Admission is available at no additional charge to hear and participate in the yearly event, which includes audience singing of beloved songs and carols as well as works on the organ and for solo voice with Alan Held and Hilary Taylor, both from the voice faculty at the School of Music.

The event will be live-streamed on the School of Music Facebook page.

Wichita State University Opera Theater will present two performances of Italian opera entitled “Suor Angelica and Friends” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12 in Wiedemann Hall.

Highlights from multiple operas will be heard including selections from “Il Trovatore,” “Madama Butterfly,” “Rigoletto” and “Le Nozze di Figaro” followed by a complete performance of Puccini’s most beloved one-act opera, “Suor Angelica.” Featured in the performance will be WSU faculty members, Dr. Hilary Grace Taylor and Dr. Warren Kim.

WSU Opera Theater is under the direction of Alan Held, professor of voice and director of opera studies.

WSU students can request their student ticket at no additional charge in advance by going to the Fine Arts Box Office in Duerksen Fine Arts Center during operating hours. Students must show their Shocker ID.

Tickets can be purchased online through the Fine Arts Box Office or by phone at 316-978-3233.